Yet, if the following day, or even the following hour, some sudden invitation to a brilliant a.s.sembly, made any of these ladies require her services, they would give their orders with caressing solicitations for speed; rush familiarly into her room, three or four times in a day, to see how she went on; supplicate her to touch nothing for any other human being; load her with professions of regard; confound her with hurrying entreaties; shake her by the hand; tap her on the shoulder; call her the best of souls; a.s.sure her of their eternal grat.i.tude; and torment her out of any time for sleep or food:--yet, the occasion past, and the work seen and worn, it was thought of no more! Her pains and exertions, their promises and fondness, sunk into the same oblivion; and the commonest and most inadequate pay was murmured at, if not contested.
Now and then, however, she was surprised by sudden starts of kindness, and hasty enquiries, eagerly made, though scarcely demanding any answer, into her situation and affairs; followed by drawing her, with an air of confidence, into a dressing-room or closet:--but there, when prepared for some mark of favour or esteem, she was only asked, in a mysterious whisper, whether she could procure any cheap foreign lace, or French gloves? or whether she could get over from France, any particularly delicate paste for the hands.
To ladies and to behaviour of this cast, there were, however, exceptions; especially amongst the residents of the place and its neighbourhood, who were not there, like the visitors, for dissipation or irregular extravagance, that, alternately, causes money to be loosely squandered, and meanly held back. But this better sort was rare, and sufficed not to supply employment to Juliet for her maintenance, though the most parsimonious. Nor were there any amongst them that had the leisure, or the discernment, to discover, that her mind both required and merited succour as much as her circ.u.mstances.
Yet there was the seat of what she had most to endure, and found hardest to sustain. Her short, but precious junction with her Gabriella, gave poignancy to every latent regret, and added disgust to her solitary toil. Thoughts uncommunicated, ideas unexchanged, fears unrevealed, and sorrows unpartic.i.p.ated, infused a heaviness into her existence, that not all her activity in business could conquer; while slackness of pay, by rendering the result of her labours distant and precarious, robbed her industry of cheerfulness, and her exertions of hope. With an ardent love of elegant social intercourse, she was doomed to pa.s.s her lonely days in a room that no sound of kindness ever cheered; with enthusiastic admiration of the beauties of Nature, she was denied all prospect, but of the coa.r.s.e red tilings of opposite attics: with an innate taste for the fine arts, she was forced to exist as completely out of their view or knowledge, as if she had been an inhabitant of some uncivilized country: and fellow-feeling, that most powerful master of philanthropy!
now taught her to pity the lamentations of seclusion from the world, that she had hitherto often contemned as weak and frivolous; since now, though with time always occupied, and a mind fully stored, she had the bitter self-experience of the weight of solitude without books, and of the gloom of retirement without a friend.
During this period, the only notice that she attracted, was that of a gouty old gentleman, whom she frequently met upon the stairs, when forced to mount or descend them in pursuit of her fair heedless creditors. She soon found, by the manner in which he entered, or quitted, at pleasure, the apartment that she had recently given up, that he was her successor. He was evidently struck by her beauty, and, upon their first meeting, looked earnestly after her till she was out of sight; and then, descended into the shop, to enquire who she was of Miss Matson. Miss Matson, always perplexed what to think of her, gave so indefinite, yet so extraordinary an account, that he eagerly awaited an opportunity of seeing her again. Added examination was less calculated to diminish curiosity, than to change it into pleasure and interest; and soon, during whole hours together, he perseveringly watched, upon the landing-places, for the moments of her going out, or coming back to the house; that, while smiling and bowing to her as she pa.s.sed, he might obtain yet another, and another view of so singular and so lovely an Incognita.
As he annexed no fixed idea himself to this a.s.siduity, he impressed none upon Juliet; who, though she could not but observe it, had a mind too much occupied within, for that mental listlessness that applies for thoughts, conjectures, or adventures from without.
Soon, however, becoming anxious to behold her nearer, and, soon after, to behold her longer, he contrived to place himself so as somewhat to obstruct, though not positively to impede, her pa.s.sage. The modest courtesy, which she gave to his age, when, upon her approach, he made way for her, he pleased himself by attributing to his palpable admiration; and his bow, which had always been polite, became obsequious; and his smile, which had always spoken pleasure, displayed enchantment.
Still, however, there was nothing to alarm, and little to engage the attention of Juliet; for though ostentatiously gallant, he was scrupulously decorous. His manners and deportment were old-fashioned, but graceful and gentleman-like; and his eyes, though they had lost their brilliancy, were still quick, scrutinizing, and, where not softened by female attractions, severe.
One day, upon her return from a fruitless expedition, as fearfully, while ascending the stairs, she opened a paper that had just been delivered to her in the shop, her deeply absorbed and perplexed air, and the sigh with which she looked at its contents, induced him, with heightened interest, to attempt following her, that he might make some enquiry into her situation. He had discerned, as she pa.s.sed, that what she held was a bill; he could not doubt her poverty from her change of apartment; and he wished to offer her some a.s.sistance: but finding that he had no chance of overtaking her, before she reached her chamber, he gently called, "Young lady!" and begged that she would stop.
With that alacrity of youthful purity, which is ever disposed to consider age and virtue as one, she not only complied, but, seeing the difficulty with which he mounted the stairs, respected his infirmities, and descended herself to meet him, and hear his business.
To a younger man, or to one less experienced, or less sagacious, this action might have appeared the effect of forwardness, of ignorance, or of levity; but to a man of the world, hackneyed in its ways, and penetrating into the motives by which it is ordinarily influenced, it seemed the result of innocence without suspicion; yet of an innocence to which her air and manner gave a dignity that destroyed, in its birth, all interpretation to her disadvantage. His purse, therefore, which already he held in his hand, he felt must be offered with more delicacy than he had at first supposed to be necessary; and, though he was by no means a man apt to be embarra.s.sed, he hesitated, for a moment, how to address a forlorn young stranger.
That moment, however, sufficed to determine him upon making an apology, with the most marked respect, for the liberty which he had taken in claiming her attention. The look with which she listened rewarded his judgment: it expressed the grat.i.tude of feelings to which politeness was a pleasure; but not a novelty.
"I think--I understand, Ma"am," he then said, "you are the lady who inhabited the apartment to which, most unworthily, I have succeeded?"
Juliet bowed.
"I am truly concerned, Ma"am, at a mistake so preposterous in our destinies, so diametrically in opposition to our merits, as that which immures so much beauty and grace, which every one must wish to behold, in the attics; while so worn-out, and good-for-nothing an old fellow as I am, from whom every body must wish to turn their eyes, is perched, full in front, and precisely on the very spot so every way your superiour due. Whatever wicked Elf has done this deed, I confess myself heartily ashamed of my share in its operation; and humbly ready, should any better genius come amongst us, with a view to putting things into their proper places, to agree, either that you should be lodged, in the face of day, in the drawing-room, and I be jammed, out of sight, in the garret; or--that you should become gouty and decrepit, and I grow suddenly young and beautiful."
Juliet could not but smile, yet waited some explanation without speaking.
Charmed with the smile, which his own rigid features immediately caught, "I have so frequently," he continued, "pondered and ruminated upon the good which those little aerial beings I speak of might do; and the wrongs which they might redress; were they permitted to visit us, now and then, as we read of their doing in days of yore; that, sometimes, I dream while wide awake, and fancy I see them; and feel myself at the mercy of their antic corrections; or receive courteous presents, or wholesome advice. Just this moment, as you were pa.s.sing, methought one of them appeared to me!"
Juliet, surprised, involuntarily looked round.
"And it said to me, "Whence happens it, my worthy antique, that you grow as covetous as you are rich? Bear, for your pains, the punishment due to a miser, of receiving money that you must not h.o.a.rd; and of presenting, with your own avaricious hand, this purse to the fair young creature whose dwelling you have usurped; yet who resides nearest to those she most resembles, the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses.""
With these words, and a low bow, he would have put his purse into her hand; but upon her starting back, it dropt at her feet.
Surprized, yet touched, as well as amused, by a turn so unexpected to his pleasantry, Juliet, gracefully restoring, though firmly declining his offer, uttered her thanks for the kindness of his intentions, with a sweetness so unsuspicious of evil, that they separated with as strong an impression of wonder upon his part, as, upon hers, of grat.i.tude.
Anxious to relieve the perplexity thus excited, and to settle his opinion, he continued to watch, but could not again address her; for aware, now, of his purpose, she fled down, or darted up stairs, with a swiftness that defied pursuit; yet with a pa.s.sing courtesy, that marked respectful remembrance.
Thus, in a life of solitary hardship, with no intermission but for mortifying disappointment, pa.s.sed nearly three weeks, when Juliet found, with affright and astonishment, that all orders for work seemed at an end. It was no longer the season for Brighthelmstone, whose visitors were only accidental stragglers, that, here to-day, and gone to-morrow, had neither care nor leisure but for rambling and amus.e.m.e.nt. The residents, though by no means inconsiderable, were soon served; for Elinor was removed to Lewes, and her influence was lost with her presence. Some new measure, therefore, for procuring employment, became necessary; and Juliet, once more, was reduced to make application to Miss Matson.
In pa.s.sing, therefore, one morning, through the shop, with some work prepared for carrying home, she stopt to open upon the subject; but the appearance of Miss Bydel at the door, induced her, with an hasty apology, to make an abrupt retreat; that she might avoid an encounter which, with that lady, was always irksome, if not painful, from her unconstrained curiosity; joined to the grossness of her conceptions and remarks.
CHAPTER XLIV
Juliet, in re-mounting the stairs, was stopt, by her new acquaintance, before the door of his apartment.
"If you knew," he said, "how despitefully I have been treated, and how miserably black and blue I have been pinched, by the little Imp whose offer you have rejected, sleep would fly your eyes at night, from remorse for your hardness of heart. Its Impship insists upon it, that the fault must all be mine. What! it cries, would you persuade me, that a young creature whose face beams with celestial sweetness, whose voice is the voice of melody, whose eyes have the softness of the Dove"s--"
Juliet, though she smiled, would have escaped; but he told her he must be heard.
"Would you persuade me, quoth my sprite, that such an angelic personage, would rather let my poor despised coin canker and rust in your miserly coffers, than disperse it about in the world, in kind, generous, or useful activity? No, my antique, continues my little elf, you have presented it in some clumsy, hunchy, awkward mode, that has made her deem you an unworthy bearer of fairy gifts; and she flies the downy wings of my gentle succour, from the fear of falling into your rough and uncooth claws."
Juliet, who now, through the ill-closed fingers of his gouty hand, discerned his prepared purse, seriously begged to decline this discussion.
"What malice you must bear me!" he cried. "You are surely in the pay of my evil genius! and I shall be whipt with nettles, or scratched with thorns, all night, in revenge of my failure! And that parcel, too,--which strains the fine fibres of your fair hands,--cast it but down, and millions of my little elves will struggle to convey it safely to your chamber."
"I doubt not their dexterity," answered Juliet, "nor the benevolence of their fabricator; but I a.s.sure you, Sir, I want no help."
"If you will not accept their aerial services, deign, at least, not to refuse mine!"
He endeavoured, now, to take the gown-packet into his own hands; laughingly saying, upon her grave resistance, "Beware, fair nymph, of the dormant sensations which you may awaken, if you should make me suppose you afraid of me! Many a long day is past, alas! and gone, since I could flatter myself with the idea of exciting fear in a young breast!"
Ceasing, however, the attempt, after some courteous apologies, he respectfully let her pa.s.s.
But, upon entering her room, she heard something c.h.i.n.k as she deposited her parcel upon a table; and, upon examination, found that he had managed to slip into it, during the contest, a little green purse.
Vexed at this contrivance, and resolved not to lose an instant in returning what no distress could induce her to retain, she immediately descended; but the staircase was vacant, and the door was closed.
Fearful any delay might authorize a presumption of acceptance, she a.s.sumed courage to tap at the door.
A scampering, at the same moment, up the stairs, made her instantly regret this measure; and by no means the less, for finding herself recognized, and abruptly accosted by young Gooch, the farmer"s son, at the very moment that her gouty admirer had hobbled to answer to her summons.
"Well, see if I a"n"t a good marksman!" he cried; "for else, Ma"am, I might have pa.s.sed you; for they told me, below, you were up there, at the very top of the house. But I"d warrant to pick you out from a hundred, Ma"am; as neat as my father would one of his stray sheep. But what I come for, Ma"am, is to ask the favour of your company, if it"s agreeable to you, to a little junket at our farm."
Then, rubbing his hands with great glee, unregarding the surprised look of Juliet, at such an invitation, or the amused watchfulness of the observant old beau, he went glibly on.
"Father"s to give it, Ma"am. You never saw old dad, I believe, Ma"am?
The old gentleman"s a very good old chap; only he don"t like our clubs: for he says they make me speak quite in the new manner; so that the farmers, he says, don"t know what I"d be at. He"s rather in years, Ma"am, poor man. He don"t know much how things go. However, he"s a very well meaning old gentleman."
Juliet gravely enquired, to what unknown accident she might attribute an invitation so unexpected?
"Why, Ma"am," answered Gooch, delighted at the idea of having given her an agreeable surprize, "Why it"s the "Squire, Ma"am, that put it into my head. You know who I mean? our rich cousin, "Squire Tedman. He"s a great friend of yours, I can a.s.sure you, Ma"am. He wants you to take a little pleasure sadly. And he"s sadly afraid, too, he says, that you"ll miss him, now he"s gone to town; for he used often, he says, to bring you one odd thing or another. He"s got a fine fortune of his own, my cousin the "Squire. And he"s a widower.--And he"s taken a vast liking to you, I can tell you, Ma"am;--so who knows...."
Juliet would have been perfectly unmoved by this ignorant forwardness, but for the presence of a stranger, to whose good opinion, after her experience of his benevolence, she could not be indifferent. With an air, therefore, that marked her little satisfaction at this familiar jocoseness, she declined the invitation; and begged the young man to acquaint Mr Tedman, that, though obliged to his intentions, she should feel a yet higher obligation in his forbearance to forward to her, in future, any similar proposals.
"Why, Ma"am," cried young Gooch, astonished, "this i"n"t a thing you can get at every day! We shall have all the main farmers of the neighbourhood! for it"s given on account of a bargain that we"ve made, of a nice little slip of land, just by our square hay-field. And I"ve leave to choose six of the company myself. But they won"t be farmers, Ma"am, I can tell you! They"ll be young fellows that know better how the world goes. And we shall have your good friend "Squire Stubbs; for it"s he that made our bargain."
Juliet, now, turning from him to the silent, remarking stranger, said, "I am extremely ashamed, Sir, to obtrude thus upon your time, but the person for whom you so generously destined this donation commissions me to return it, with many thanks, and an a.s.surance that it is not at all wanted."
She held out her hand with the purse, but, drawing back from receiving it, "Madam," he cried, "I would upon no account offend any one who has the honour of being known to you; but you will not, therefore, I hope, insist that I should quarrel with myself, by taking what does not belong to me?"